Plan Number 14
by Sadie Breezy-Winchester
Summary: "Why would you want to help me?" "I've been bullied before, too. I know what it feels like to want to get revenge. I want to help you end those people." :: two- shot.


**Plan No. 14 **

_"Bodies layin' all over the floor and I don't remember how they got there but I guess I musta killed em (killed em)." _

**...**

"Why would you want to help me?" "I've been bullied before, too. I know what it feels like to want to get revenge. I want to help you end those people." / As he watched the building burn down in flames, he was tempted to walk towards it. He looked back at Thalia and Nico. How would he know that Thalia wouldn't eventually kill him just like she had killed her friend without hesitation? How would he know that Nico wouldn't abandon him, just like he had abandoned his sister? He couldn't stand the thoughts of being alone once again. He looked back at them, his frown deepening as he saw the two cackling as they watched the building burn down in flames and he made his decision. They were better off without him.

**...**

**Warnings: **Deaths, murder, evil thoughts, long one-shot, out of character, alternate universe.

**A/N: **It took me about three days to write this whole thing. I actually dream of this, but I had to slowly piece this together. The reason as to why there are fourteen plans is because I needed a back-up story that built up slowly and shaped Percy and his thoughts and so that you can see why Percy acted the way he did in the end. If you are wondering, no, I am not bullied, okay? I found this rather amusing, though. I know that the genres say tragedy and angst, but I was tempted to put it under humor. I have a dark and sadistic humor (the readers who have read my previous work know this) so I find the idea of murder amusing. I have dark thoughts and someday, I want to be able to do this... just because I despise people. But then again, I would most likely get caught and it would ruin my chances to attend Oxford University and study law and get a degree in criminal defense. I was also tempted to add politics into this (cause politics fascinate me), but then I was like, "That won't fit in", and immediately scratched that idea out. I would like to give thanks to Conover, um; his username has some numbers that I can't be bothered to remember. Yeah, I would like to thank him because I was texting him and was like, "I have to think for like twelve ways to murder people", and he gave me some ideas... which I enjoyed picturing. Thank you, Adam! This is my longest one shot ever, and if you are wondering, the names of the songs under the dates are the songs that I was listening to while writing those sections. Really good songs go listen to them. Gods, I just re-read my own author's note and realize that I sound like a creepy, evil girl. Okay, I have evil thoughts, evil ideas, but I am not evil. But just in case, I'll see some of you guys in hell ;) **Enjoy. **

**...**

**March 24, 2006 **

_Pain by Three Days Grace _

He was pushed to the ground roughly, his schoolbooks scattering across the cold tiled floor. He put his hands in front of him quickly to avoid falling face-first into the dirty floor, but he was welcomed with two loud cracks and intense pain from his wrists. His strength weakened and he fell to the floor with a loud groan of pain.

Loud and obnoxious laughter surrounded him as he lay in pain with two broken wrists. No one made a move to aid him; instead, they chose to laugh at his misery and laughed harder when they caught sight of the tears prickling at the corners of his tightly shut eyes.

"Aw, is Prissy Jackson going to cry to his mommy and daddy?" He heard a rough yet girly voice mock him. There was amusement in her voice. He could tell who it was by her voice - the girl who had hated him since first grade, Clarisse.

Her comment made the tears fall harder. He had no one. He lived alone out in the cold streets. His parents had died long ago, when he was only seven. Nobody knew, of course.

"Look, he's crying like a little baby!"

That was from a different person. Her annoying voice echoed in his ears as his wrists throbbed in pain and were practically screaming at him to get up and get the nurse to help him. That annoying, high-pitched voice belonged to Nancy.

There was more laughter as he shut his eyes tighter until he was no longer able to hear the rounds of loud laughter.

He woke up hours later in a white room. He no longer felt pain on his wrists, but they felt heavy.

He struggled to sit up slowly and when he finally accomplished his goal, he took a long look at his now bandaged wrists. There was blood visible through the heavy, white bandages, but he didn't say anything. He was used to seeing his own blood quite often.

"You're finally awake."

His head snapped to the front of the room and his green eyes met cold gray and calculating eyes staring back at him.

"Nurse Minerva", he said in a raspy voice and broke eye-contact. Her eyes softened as she walked closer, to his side and picked up his covered wrists carefully and unwrapped his right wrist slowly.

It was red with a mixture of green and purple. He winced at the sight and turned away as Nurse Minerva did the same with his left wrist.

"They should be back to normal in a few hours", she informed him softly. He nodded and stood up from the bed.

"Thank you."

The young nurse gave him a big smile and a gentle hug. "It's really not a problem, sweetie."

He nodded again and walked out of the nurse's office, shutting the heavy oak door quietly and walking down the hall with his head down and his sore hands in the front pockets of his red hoodie.

He stopped in front of the janitor's closet a few feet away and contemplated his options: He could either return to class, filled with his bullies (which was the whole class) or he could skip class and face detention later. He decided for the latter and opened the janitor's closet quickly and dashed inside.

He sat in the corner of the dark closet, under a shelf and smiled in relief. From his back pocket, he took out a crumpled piece of paper and his blue pen. He made himself comfortable on the floor and set the paper to where a ray of light hit it from the outside of the closet.

His sea-green eyes scanned the crumpled paper. It had nothing except for the date - _March 21st, 2006 _

Percy uncapped his pen and pondered for a few seconds on what he should write down.

Images of that same morning played in his mind. He recalled the intense pain that he felt, the humiliation, and the loud obnoxious laughter that had surrounded him filled his ears. Anger ran through his veins - it wasn't just that morning. It had been the same since his first day of school. He was sick of the pain and humiliation that Nancy, Clarisse, and everyone else put him through.

He was tired of them. He was tired of life.

With that, he began to scribble down on his ruled paper quickly, not stopping once for ten minutes. A watery smile inhabited his dry lips as he read over what he had scribbled down.

It was a small drawing of his classroom. It wasn't the best but he understood it well. He drew the desks as small rectangles and labeled them with the names of his classmates, where each of them sat. Being in grade six, they didn't switch classes, so they all stayed in one single classroom for six hours a day.

He circled the names of some of his classmates - the ones he hated the most and a maniac grin filled his pale face. With his unruly, raven black hair, his dark sea-green eyes, and that grin - he appeared evil in the dark room.

"Nancy and Clarisse will be the first ones to go..." He muttered to himself under his breath and circled their names darkly.

He flipped his crumpled paper to the other side and wrote on the first line: **Plan No. 1 **

He put the pen to his lips and pondered on ideas. First, he would need to choose the victim. He snorted and wrote down the name.It wasn't a hard decision, since it was the first name that popped in his mind when he though of who should die first.

He stared at his victim's name which he had written down in messy handwriting. He never liked Clarisse, even before she began bullying him that year. She had always been too aggressive and snobby. She held herself with too much pride, as if everyone should kiss the ground that she walked on. The name didn't fit her; it was too girly and it reminded him of a blond French girl. Like the one from Harry Potter, Fleur.

Then again, the name _did _fit her. The name 'Clarisse' meant "she who maims with a spear." Clarisse always carried around a ruler, the ones that teachers used to point at high places, but hers was made out of hard metal. She liked hitting people with the ruler when they least expected it. It wasn't a spear, but the way she handled that ruler, some would have believed that it was if they had not taken a good look at it.

So, he had his victim.

Next, he would need a weapon. Nothing too dangerous, he told himself. Something that people wouldn't suspect that could be used to kill. Something that was always around. His brows furrowed as he starting thinking of possible weapons.

Perhaps he could use a sharp pencil. Like the ones that Mr. Brunner had in his desk. They were the jumbo sized pencils with the huge pink erasers and the cheesy cartoons drawn around it.

How would he use the pencil, though?

His fingers tapped against the cold floor as different scenarios ran through his mind.

The pencils were sharp as knifes... so, he could stab her. Stab her eye out? No... That was too ridiculous; how about stab her throat? Would the pencil be sharp enough to seriously injure her, to go through her bulky figure?

Yes. It was her throat, the most vulnerable place that she had. If she was ambushed by surprise, it would do the job.

Next was the location. Where would he go through with his plan? It had to be somewhere in school, since it was the only time that Percy saw her, and the girl lived in the dangerous part of New York, where all the gangs were. Also, no one had to be around, and no cameras.

Do it when everyone else is at recess and she's in detention (like always) and when Mr. Brunner leaves the empty classroom to get his daily afternoon coffee. It was the perfect location. The classrooms didn't have cameras and it was convenient that the detention hall's cameras were broken.

They had been shattered to pieces when a couple of kids who were in detention sneaked away and broke the cameras so that the school would have no proof that it was them whom had sneaked away (and they had gotten back before Mr. Brunner had noticed).

Good. The cameras wouldn't see him sneaking inside the detention room. It was good.

Yes, Percy decided. He wrote that down as he shook in excitement.

Finally, to cover it up well and leave no evidence behind so that it could pass off as if Clarisse had left from detention, there had to be no blood and he had to get rid of the body.

He had been in the detention room plenty of times before. He remembered every single bit of furniture that the classroom had.

It had a plastic see-through mat. He would have to buy one of those and replace it once the blood had been spilled on it. He would also need to sneak her body out from the window, since it was in the first floor, but first, he would have to get some heavy duty black trash bags to put her body in there.

If he just pushed her body out without anything. Her blood would cover the bushes and leave trails of red behind them. He couldn't have that.

He also needed a way to get away from the school fast. He didn't have a car _and _he wasn't old enough to drive just yet.

He groaned in frustration. To complete the plan, he needed help, but who would help _him _commit a _murder_? He still wrote it down and stared down at the paper. He sighed and wrote the important steps at the very top: Victim, weapon, location, and evidence.

His lips formed a straight line as he folded the paper and shoved it in his back jean's pocket along with his blue ink pen.

He had some work to do.

**May 2, 2006**

_The Art of Breaking by Thousand Foot Krutch _

Percy walked inside of the small cafe and sat in the booth in the very corner. His cheeks were hollow, there were dark bags under his eyes from lack of sleep, his hair was longer and it had the appearance of not being combed in weeks. His clothes were torn and he had scabs on his arms.

The waitress walked towards him and sat in the seat in front of him, giving him a look that said: 'Tell me what happened.'

Percy sighed and ran a hand through his hair and looked down at the menu in front of him for a brief minute before he made his choice. "A coke and a number four please," he told the waitress and she nodded, and stood up from the seat and walked to the back, entering the kitchen.

His dark eyes looked around the cozy cafe, watching the happy couples that ate while laughing happily. The front door opened and he found himself staring that the family that had entered the cafe - a woman with brown hair and a friendly smile on her face, the man had blond hair and piercing blue eyes. In the woman's arms, was a small boy, around the age of four years old. He had his father's blond hair and his mother's warm, brown eyes.

Percy tore his eyes away from the sight. He had always wished that he had a mother and a father - a small family that loved him.

The waitress sat his food in front of him and took her previous seat in front of him. She watched as he ate his food slowly, savoring every bite of his simple cheeseburger with bacon and his side of fries. Once he was finished, he wiped his greasy fingers with the napkin and took a sip from his coke.

"Okay, explain", the waitress said firmly.

Percy frowned as he pushed away his trash and the waitress threw it in the trashcan next to her.

"Luke and Octavian caught me outside of school. They took me to the playground and beat me up in front of everyone in our class, and Coach Hedge wasn't around to fend them off."

"Oh, Percy!" she said and stood up, then plopped next to him, and pulled him into a hug that nearly suffocated him.

"I can't - breathe - ah, Hestia!"

The waitress, Hestia, released him and blushed in embarrassment. "I'm sorry, Percy."

Percy grinned and straightened his torn shirt, "its fine Tia, just don't kill me."

Hestia chuckled and rolled her eyes. "Did you hear about that wrestler, Ox? He killed his opponent with a strong punch to the heart." Hestia shuddered and she didn't notice that Percy's eyes had lit up.

Percy grinned. "No, I haven't. Thank you for the food, Tia. I have to go, I have homework to do."

Hestia stood up and nodded. "Come by again tomorrow, alright?"

Percy nodded and ran towards the door. He had a grin on his face. He had to make a stop by the library.

He ran to the library, only two blocks away from Hestia's Cafe and he slowed down when he entered the library. He greeted the librarian quietly and went straight for the computer room and chose one of the computers at the very back - he was sure to have privacy. The computer room was empty except for a girl with choppy black hair and electric blue eyes and a boy sitting as far as possible from her. He wore black clothing, his skin was extremely pale and his eyes were darker than night.

Percy clicked on the Firefox icon and went straight to Google. He smiled as he typed in: _Ox, wrestler kills opponent. _

Thousands of results appeared within seconds and he clicked on the fourth option: _How to perform the Heart Punch to kill a person. _

_"Warning, do not perform this technique on anyone. This is only for information." _

Percy snorted at that, which caused the other two people in the computer room to look at him with raised eyebrows. He shrugged and stared back at the bright screen in front of him.

_"A strongman's attack, it is simply a powerful blow to the heart. (The wrestler Ox killed an opposing wrestler with this attack.) _

Percy frowned but still took out the piece of paper that he had shoved in his back pocket (and which he carried everywhere) and unfolded it. Underneath his previous plan, he wrote down the date and next to it wrote: **Plan No. 2 **

He skipped a line and wrote down the bit of text that he had found and looked back at the top of the paper, looking at the steps that he must take to create a plan.

"Victim, weapon, location, evidence." He muttered to himself and began to think.

The victim would be Nancy that was for sure.

Nancy, Nancy, Nancy. The name suited her. He imaged a Nancy to have ugly and messy hair with crooked teeth and foul breath and pale skin... skin so pale that she would get sunburn at night. He smiled at the thought.

He also thought of a girl whose name was Nancy with an annoying high voice. That kind of voice that made you wants to slam your head against a hard surface repeatedly and make you think: "Maybe if I slam my head against my desk repeatedly, I will die" or make you groan in frustration and slap a Nancy to the next millennia.

Yup, that name suited her just fine. He wrote down her name messily and underlined it once.

Next was the weapon.

Percy hummed in his head as he pictured Nancy and tried to remember what she usually had with her. He shrugged and wrote down:_ "Bare hands."_

It had to be if he wanted to perform the Heart Punch on that little female dog.

Then, the location. Her favorite places were the oxidized monkey bars in the far corner of the playground, that shady Evergreen tree that was in the usually empty dog park two miles away from the school, and the alley behind Target.

He grinned and jotted down:_ "Location: Empty dog park two miles away from the school. She's usually alone and none of her friends know that she goes there on her spare time." _

Finally, since the park was isolated, he would have no problem performing the Heart Punch on her. He would simply follow her to the park after school, wait a few minutes (preferably ten) and then sneak behind her, catch her by surprise, and before she can start screaming, punch her chest. If that doesn't work, it's a good thing that the grassy ground is somewhat covered in large rocks. She'll be knocked out and hit her head hard on one of those rocks. He could grab another rock and hit her head repeatedly.

The park was near a pond, and beach sand surrounded the pond, so he could use the sand to cover the traces of blood and bury her body underneath all the rocks. He would have to do it in a rainy day, though. Just so that he was sure that the blood would be washed away and mix with the beach sand and the pond's water.

Perfect. He wrote his ideas down and sighed in satisfaction. He folded the paper quickly and put it in his front pocket with the blue pen.

"What are you looking at?"

Percy jumped at the sound of the voice, and turned to look at the boy whom had taken a seat next to him. The boy's eyes were glued to the computer screen and a smirk was on his lips.

"Why are you looking at this?"

The boy appeared to only be a year younger than Percy, but the smirk that the boy wore made him too evil for his age. He had an innocent face with a mischievous gleam in his dark onyx eye. It was enough to make Percy almost shiver.

"Uh... I like the wrestler?" Percy spluttered. He meant for it to come out as a statement, but it ended coming out as a question, instead.

The boy raised an eyebrow and chuckled. "I saw what you had written down on that paper of yours. I want to help you."

Percy's lips formed a thin line and his eyes showed hesitation. "Why would you want to help me?"

"I've been bullied before, too. I know what it feels like to want to get revenge. I want to help you end those people."

Percy's eyes darted to the front of the computer room; the girl was no longer there. Good, it was better if they were alone. He didn't want anyone to hear their conversation and turn them in to the cops.

"I'm Nico, by the way. Nico di Angelo; eleven", he introduced himself, and stuck his hand out for Percy to shake.

Percy stared at the pale hand for a few seconds before taking it into his own and gripping it firmly and then shook it stiffly.

"Percy. Percy Jackson; twelve."

"And I'm Thalia Grace, but don't call me by my last name. I'm fourteen."

Nico and Percy jumped a few inches in the air when they heard the girl introduce herself behind them.

'Thalia' smirked and plopped down on the seat on the other side of Percy and fished the paper from his pocket and set it down on top of the keyboard. "Count me in, too."

"This is murder that we're talking about... _killing_ people." Percy explained to Thalia and Nico and stared at them with shock evident in his eyes.

Thalia rolled her eyes and nodded. "I know what murder is and its consequences. I prefer killing with my bare hands, by the way."

"You've killed someone before?" Nico asked wide-eyed; Thalia nodded and waved it off, looking back at Percy expectantly.

"You want our help or not? You can't do this alone or you'll get caught."

"I... Well, okay." Percy finally said and urged the two to lean closer towards him. He began explaining everything that had been going on since the beginning of sixth grade and pulled up his school website and clicked on his teacher's name: _Brunner, Chiron _and clicked on the 'view class' button.

Immediately, the pictures of all of his classmates showed up and he began to tell his two new friends information about each of them.

"Nancy Bobofit", he said, pointing at the picture of the girl with ugly red hair, yellow crooked teeth, and horrible, orange freckled splashed across her face.

Nico made a sound of disgust at the sight of the girl.

"I know," Percy said with a small grin. Thalia read the paper and looked back up at the picture of Nancy. "She's plan number two, right?"

Percy nodded. "Clarisse La Rue", he continued.

"You sure that's a girl?" Thalia asked. Her nose was wrinkled as her blue eyes examined the picture of the girl who had the resemblance of a muscular pig with stringy red hair.

"She's plan number one." Nico stated as he read over the plan and grinned then gave Percy thumbs up.

Percy nodded again in confirmation and continued. "Matt Sloan, Luke and Octavian Castellan, and Ethan Nakamura."

Thalia and Nico nodded. "Those are the ones that you want to get rid of first, then?" Nico asked.

Percy nodded as he folded up the paper and placed it in its usual pocket.

"Well..." Thalia began as she looked Percy up and down. "You look like you could take someone in a fight, but you need to work out more, if we try some of the things that I have in mind, or even the Heart Punch. Both of you guys need to work out." She took out a credit card from her wallet (which she took out from her back pocket) and smiled. "We're going to the gym, boys."

Nico groaned loudly and glared at Thalia. "We're planning a murder and you're thinking about the _gym_?"

Percy snorted and tried to contain his laughter. "He's got a point, Thalia."

Thalia rolled her eyes and slapped both boys upside the head. "This is to make you guys gain muscles so that you guys can kill with bare hands and have the strength to carry the dead bodies!"

She pushed Percy away from the computer and cleared the browsing history and exited out of the web-page, then dragged both boys out of the library towards the nearest gymnasium.

"You guys will thank me later."

**May 12, 2006 **

_Addicted by Saving Abel _

The blond boy pushed him to the ground forcefully and kicked his stomach. The air left Percy and he felt himself become drowsy. He struggled to catch a breath of air while he whimpered in pain as he lay on the cement sideway outside of school.

The blond boy was laughing loudly, taunting him. Daring him to try and stop him.

Soon. Percy though. Soon enough he would get his revenge. He added Luke to his mental list of people to die first along with Nancy and Clarisse. Percy lied on the ground coughing up blood, as he clutched his stomach and tried to convince himself that he was not in pain.

'No pain', he chanted in his head as he spluttered out more blood. 'No pain. No pain. No pain… NopainNopainNopainNopai-'

"Would you look at that?" Luke yelled. "The wimp can't even handle a simple kick. He's already crying for his mother."

"My... My mother - she's dead!" Percy croaked out weakly.

The laughter stopped and he heard several footsteps fading away. Percy opened his eyes and he was met with loneliness. He was alone. Everyone had left - he almost sighed in relief.

Almost.

Luke kicked his head from behind, making Percy's face collide against the cement ground. Then, the blond boy yanked his head up and he squatted down to his level to look at the green-eyed boy straight in the eyes. "I know that she's dead", he said grinning. "My father killed her, after all."

He let Percy's head fall back down to the ground and swim in his own pool of blood and then Luke walked away briskly.

"Percy", he heard a voice from far away. "Percy!" He felt someone slap his cheek lightly.

He groaned and clutched his head, which was throbbing in pain.

"Nico! He's awake!"

Footsteps approaching and a door slamming loudly was what he heard afterwards. He groaned again.

"How cruel can a bunch of twelve year olds be? They almost killed him!" The first person wailed - a girl.

"Thalia", Nico said in a hushed tone. "I think that we're being hypocrites, since we have been planning their deaths."

Thalia sighed and Percy felt the edge of the bed dip. His eyes fluttered open, getting used to the bright light of the dark blue bedroom that he was in.

"God, where am I?" He asked as he tried to sit up.

"Well, I'm not God, but I can also answer your question", Nico joked. "We're in Thalia's room."

"Yeah. My dad is never home, since he's either busy with his job as a judge, or he's too busy bedding random women." Thalia explained with disgust dripping from her voice.

"What happened?"

This time, it was Nico's turn to explain. "We found you lying in a pool of your own blood in front of your school. We saw that blond guy, Luke, beat you up. We were going to stop him, but he left before we could do anything. He kicked you pretty hard and when he let your head fall, your temple hit a rock and the rock struck your temple with enough force to make you lose consciousness. If it had been hit harder, you would have been killed."

Percy frowned as he finally sat up. "Luke told me that his father killed my mom."

"What?" Thalia snapped, her hair slapping Nico.

"Yeah", the green-eyed boy sighed and struggled to hold in the tears as an image of his mother smiling warmly at him flashed in his mind.

"But how?" Nico asked in alarm. He and Thalia began shooting questions at Percy, but he heard their voices fade away slowly and be replaced by beautiful memories.

He could still remember her voice. She always sang when she did the chores around the house. On Sundays, she would bake chocolate chip cookies for him and his dad, and she would hum a tune from the Beadles as she strode around the kitchen. Once the cookie dough was in the oven, she would turn back to him and smile that beautiful smile of hers. Her blue eyes would shine with happiness as she lifted him up in her arms and she danced around the kitchen with him, with six year old Percy laughing happily.

Then, his father would walk in the kitchen and smile at his wife and son and walk up to both of them and kiss his forehead and plant a soft and loving kiss on Sally's warm lips while the delightful smell of the baking cookies would fill the kitchen.

"Percy?" Thalia called his name, snapping her fingers in front of his face, making the memories that had been playing through his head fade away.

"Sorry, just remembering some stuff", he mumbled.

Nico put a reassuring hand on his shoulder and gave him an understanding smile. "I bet she was beautiful", he said.

Percy nodded and sniffed, wiping away the tears that he had spilled while he was recalling those memories.

"I know how it feels like to lose your mom to death." Nico mumbled and walked out.

**August 7, 2006**

_The Kill (Bury Me) by Thirty Seconds to Mars_

"Just try and keep a low profile, okay?" Thalia said. It wasn't a question; it was more of an order.

Percy nodded and gave her a lopsided grin. "I always try, but it never works."

Although his tone was joking, both of their moods darkened at the reminder. He cleared his throat and asked, "Where's Nico?"

"He went off to visit his sister."

Percy nodded and fixed his navy shirt and grabbed his black bookback, putting it over his shoulders. His eyes had a faraway look in them as he waved a good-bye to his friend and he walked towards the school where he suffered the most - his own personal hell.

As he walked slowly towards the school (it was his first day of seventh grade), he pondered on thoughts of Nico. He was honestly worried for the younger boy. He was a loner and he lived in the streets, well, used to. The three of them lived with Thalia - she had been right, not once had her father arrived home. Only once a week and that was only for a few hours. The man had taken no notice that there were two boys in his house.

It was only the three of them and the maids. Thalia was okay with that - she said she no longer felt lonely. She was home schooled while Nico never had an education, he only knew how to read and write from his sister. He had ran away from their house when he was nine because his step-mother didn't want him and made his life impossible, and his father often sided with her.

"Hey look, it's Prissy!"

He looked up only to see Clarisse in front of him with an arrogant smirk on her face. Nancy was on her right side with an equally arrogant smirk and on her left was Matt Sloan. The three of them looked pale and purple bags were visible from under their eyes and a flash of worry passed in Matt's eyes but he covered it up with a glare.

Percy's hand went straight towards his front pocket discreetly making sure that his folded paper was still in his pocket. Just looking at three of the people he hated made the gears in his brain turn and his mind began to formulate a new plan as his sea-green eyes darted in between the three, searching for possible weak-spots.

"Hm," Nancy mused as she tapped a finger to her chin and looked Percy up and down. "You don't look like such a wimp this year. You've grown Prissy."

Her ugly eyes looked back up at his and her smirk grew. "That doesn't change a thing, though."

He saw Clarisse launch at him before she even saw it herself. He dodged her and he watched out of the corner of his eye as she collided against the green grass. She grunted and sat up, rubbing her head and motioned for Nancy and Matt to attack him. Percy dodged the two of them and ran towards the school and hid in the boy's empty bathrooms.

He sighed in relief and leaned against the hard, white sink and took out the folded paper from his front pocket along with the blue pen that he carried around everywhere next to the paper.

He unfolded the paper and read over the plans that him and his two friends had formulated over the summer break. It wasn't much; the paper only contained a total of four plans.

**Plan No. 3 - **

_Victim: Luke Castellan _

_Weapon: Bare hands; stand behind the enemy, put your hands under the enemy, and lock your hands behind the enemy's head. Bending the neck forward may break neck, asphyxiate enemy, or cut the supply of fluid to the brain, causing brain damage or death. _

_Location: Ambush Luke Castellan behind the small bookstore that he passes by everyday on his way home from school. Thalia will gag him to make sure that he doesn't attract any unwanted attention and tie his feet so that he doesn't escape and also tie the hands together, while Nico will be the look-out. He will sit on the bench in front of the book-store, pretending to be waiting for the afternoon bus. Percy will walk in front of look and smile at him (just to show the bastard who is ending his life), and then perform the move. _

_Evidence: Thalia has a car. Throw Luke's body in the trunk (cover the trunk with plastic in the inside to avoid spilling blood all over the trunk) and drive off to cemetery late at night. Throw the dead body of the victim in one of the holes that has already been dug and bury the body. _

The plan was unfinished. It also had many flaws and it wouldn't work for every single one of the bullies. Luke's weight would be too much for Percy (or any of them), since he was older by one year and he was very athletic, while Percy wasn't. Sure, the three of them went to the gym, but neither of them would not be able to perform the move fast enough, and Luke would be too strong and eventually get away, which would mess everything up.

**Plan No. 4 - **

_Victim: Ethan Nakamura _

_Weapon: Nico's old metal baseball bat; a hard blow to the rib cage to shatter it, which will cause grave internal bleeding. Then, hit his heat with it repeatedly until he stops breathing. _

_Location: Ethan likes to go to the video game store daily for one hour. Afterwards, he walks to his father's workshop. His father is a mechanic, and his workshop, "Nakamura's Mechanics" is about six blocks away from the video game store. On the way to the shop, he goes through an old, deserted neighborhood. Do it there._

_Evidence: The old neighborhood is deserted, no one will see and no one will hear his screams. Get rid of the baseball bat by washing it and hiding it. Leave Ethan's body in the front porch of the house that is rumored to be 'haunted'. _

Percy uncapped his blue ink pen and wrote down the words: **Plan No. 5 - **

The bathroom door opened and the sound of loud chatter was heard from the hallway. He shoved the paper and pen inside of his pockets and tried to look natural, but the boy who had entered the bathroom saw the move - it was Octavian, Luke's younger brother.

"What do you have there, Jackson?" He asked coldly, eyeing Percy's pocket, from where the paper and pen were visible.

"Nothing." Percy snapped and turned around to look at his reflection in the mirror. His eyes had lost the gleam in them that they once held, and instead it had been replaced by another emotion that nobody else besides himself could read: Hatred.

He held hatred for everyone around him. They all hated him and he returned the feeling completely. That was exactly why he was planning each of their murders. Soon enough, none of the people that bullied him would be able to wake up to see the next day. They would all regret their actions when they were on the verge of a painful death. Every single one of them would regret it and they would cry and beg for mercy and Percy would not give them any clemency just like they didn't give him any when he had laid in the pool of his own blood while everyone else laughed at his misery. Instead, he would laugh in their faces and enjoy their suffering.

He snapped out of his thoughts when he heard the click of a lock and the next second, he saw a flash of blond hair. Octavian had snatched the paper from his pocket and was reading it quickly, and Percy did nothing to stop him - instead, he smirked in satisfaction as he saw how Octavian's blue eyes darkened and reflected terror with each word that he read. His hands became shaky and his breath ragged.

He lifted his head to look up at the green-eyed boy and he dropped the paper and made a run for the door.

Percy tackled him to the floor before the youngest Castellan could even touch the lock. "I can't let you go now," he whispered. "Now that you know my secrets, I can't let you get away, Octavian."

The blond shook with fear and struggled to get up. Percy felt satisfaction as he slapped his hand against the other boy's mouth to prevent any sound from escaping from in between his lips and lifted him up by the hair forcefully, just like Octavian's brother had done to Percy only months before, and dragged him over to the sinks. Their reflections met them.

Percy admired the gleaming sinks as his smirk turned into a smile of a madman. "I once watched a movie..." Percy began in a casual tone. "There were once two friends - they were best friends, but one of the friends, the youngest one, was too nosy.

"That friend found out something he shouldn't have about the older friend. They fought in the bathroom, and the older friend, the one with the _dark secrets_ had no choice."

Octavian was shaking even more by now as he whimpered and struggled to break free from Percy's bruising grasp and he bit the raven haired boy's hand in attempt to make the boy release him so that he could at least call for help. Percy's grip got tighter.

He remembered what Nico had told him three months before: _"- He kicked you pretty hard and when he let your head fall, your temple hit a rock and the rock struck your temple with enough force to make you lose consciousness. If it had been hit harder, you would have been killed." _

"The older friend killed the younger one in a school bathroom by slamming the younger one's head so forcefully against the sink", Percy continued as his fingers trailed over the white sink and he stared at Octavian's face through the mirror, his green eyes taking a look of amusement. The same look the others often wore while they beat him up.

"The younger one died... he swam in a pool of his own blood while the other one ran away and got rid of anyone who found out his secret, because he was afraid that someone would tell on him and think that he was crazy. He wasn't crazy!" Percy whispered dangerously. "He just wanted revenge. That's all... that's all he wanted."

He leaned down to Octavian's ear and whispered in a teasing voice: "He didn't feel any regret when he killed them."

Then, he pulled on the blond hair and slammed his temple against the sharp side of the sink twice, earning a loud crack and blood began to fall from Octavian's head. His blue eyes had lost all the light of life in them but they were wide open in terror.

Percy smiled softly at the dead boy, almost with pity, and set the body on the floor carefully and shut the boy's eyes. "Sleep tight, Tavy." He whispered and turned off the bathroom's lights and sneaked out of the bathroom stealthily.

Nobody saw Percy for the rest of the day.

Percy had taken refuge under a shady tree in the park five minutes away from the school. He smiled in satisfaction as he scribbled down the details under the words that he had previously written down and the plan that he had in mind before Octavian interrupted him was replaced by a new one as the memory of Octavian's shaking body played in his mind over and over again.

**Plan No. 5 - **

_Victim: Octavian Castellan _

_Weapon: Bare hands, sink; hit the temple with enough force to make the person lose consciousness or be killed. Example: Octavian Castellan, killed by the temple being slammed against a school sink twice until his skull cracked. _

_Location: Boy's bathroom; make sure to lock the door and turn off the lights afterwards. _

_Evidence: The bathrooms don't have cameras, so it's safe to perform the murder there (just don't forget to lock the door!), leave the body behind and because since it's the bathroom, the authorities will think that the victim slipped and hit his head hard. Walk through the hall (make sure that it is crowded with people) and blend in (just make sure that nobody saw you exit). _

_Status: Completed. _

He smiled as he folded the paper and put it back in his pocket and leaned against the tree, a smirk of triumph on his lips. "One down," he muttered.

**January 8, 2007 **

_The Kids Aren't Alright by The Offspring _

It was their first day back from Winter Break, and the ground was covered in snow. The air was bitter and the wind was blowing at full force. The clouds were stormy gray and the sky was rumbling as if displeased.

A hurricane was blowing in.

Percy, Thalia, and Nico walked inside the school quickly as they struggled to hold their winter hats in place because the breeze was fighting back, trying to steal their hats away.

Thalia and Nico had somehow gotten enrolled at Yancy Academy with Percy. They said it would make things easier, so that they would have an idea of how the bullies acted and so that they could keep a closer eye on them, searching for weaknesses.

Percy didn't object.

Thalia had recently turned fifteen (not that her father had remembered), and she was two years ahead of Percy, so she attended the high school that was in the same campus as the middle school. Nico was a year younger than Percy, so he was in sixth grade, while Percy whom had turned thirteen in August and was in seventh grade.

The kids had toned down their bullying as soon as they discovered that Percy Jackson had an aggressive older friend with a glare that would make Clarisse pee her pants. That didn't mean that they still didn't bully him with words, though.

Nico and Percy went towards the middle school hall while Thalia waved at them a good-bye and ran towards the high school hall; she didn't like being late, even to class.

Both boys could hear the whispers that surrounded them and many threw insults their way, but both boys ignored them and kept walking to their lockers. Ironically enough, their two lockers were located in front of the 'Keep in Your Thoughts' bulletin board.

The board was filled with pictures of students whom had died at a young age. A new picture had joined the rest - the picture of Octavian Castellan.

In the picture, Octavian's bleach blond hair was straight and brushed down to his shoulders, his sky blue eyes were filled with life and held a mischievous gleam, and he wore a cocky smirk; it was the same smirk that he had wore right after he had won class president against Reyna Gonzáles.

The sight of the picture made smiles tug at the corners of both boys' lips.

Luke walked past them, not sparing the two a second glance as he kept his gaze on the picture of his brother.

Ever since Octavian's death, he had become an outcast. He no longer socialized with anyone and he was often found skipping class and sitting under the bulletin board talking to himself.

The police hadn't found the one responsible for the younger Castellan's death, and instead, they figured that he must have tripped on his feet or slipped and his head hit the sink with so much force that his skull had cracked.

The school had been sued but the Castellans had lost the case, yet Luke still attended Yancy.

The bell rang and the two boys rushed towards their respective classrooms, leaving Luke behind in the empty hallway to mourn in loneliness like he did everyday.

"Who can tell me the formula for slope?" The teacher, Mrs. Dodds, asked the class as the students took out their pre-Algebra textbooks.

Annabeth Chase, a quiet girl with blond curly hair and gray eyes, raised her hand. Mrs. Dodds called her name.

"Y equals M-X plus B." Annabeth answered.

"Very good, what's the other formula?"

"Y one plus Y two, over X one over X two equals." This time, it was Malcolm Chase, Annabeth's brother, who answered.

Mrs. Dodds nodded in approval at the two Chase siblings whom were sitting at the very front of the class. Annabeth turned her head to look at the desk behind her and smirked at Percy cockily and 'hmp'd when she saw that Percy wasn't looking at her, instead, he was focused on a piece of paper in front of him which had several chemical formulas and words in what looked like Italian, and a sloppy map. He clenched his fingers around the blue ink pen that he always seemed to carry around in his pocket and then he wrote down another formula.

_9.6KNO3 plus C12H22O11 - 4.8K2CO3 plus 7.2CO2 plus 11H2O plus 4.8N2 _

He groaned loudly and crossed it out and wrote another one underneath it.

_ZnCl2_

Annabeth recognized the chemical equation; zinc chloride - she just didn't know what it was; just that it was a substance.

What would a boy like Percy need zinc chloride for, and how did he know all of those complicated formulas that normal seventh graders didn't? Annabeth had a sneaking suspicion that she had seen the crossed out formula before, since her dad was a high school Chemistry professor.

She turned back to look down at her textbook and took out her notebook and her newly sharpened pencil and wrote down the formula that she had already memorized.

She would ask her father later.

"Dad!" She said loudly as she rushed inside his empty classroom. It was three-forty-five in the afternoon; the school bell had ringed only thirty minutes before.

Fredric Chase looked up from the stack of papers that he had been grading. "Yes, Annabeth?"

"I have a question about a chemical formula."

Fredric smiled widely. He loved it when his children asked him about the subject that he taught.

Annabeth took out her notebook from her backpack and flipped it open to the page to where she had jotted down the suspicious formula.

"Can you tell me what this formula is for?" It was a demand. Just like her mother, she didn't ask, she demanded.

Fredric put on his reading glasses as he read the formula twice. "Where did you get this from?"

Her eyes darted away from her father and she settled for staring at the complicated formula. "I just saw it in a textbook."

Her father nodded. "This formula is to make a smoke bomb."

Annabeth frowned, and then nodded. "Also," she hesitated. "What is zinc chloride and what is it used in?"

Her father raised an eyebrow. "Zinc chloride is a hazardous substance", he explained, folding his hands in front of him.

"It can affect a person when inhaled. It is a corrosive chemical and if one makes contact with it, it can severely irritate and burn the skin and cause eye damage. It is used in dry-cell batteries to conduct electricity, it is used to separate oil from water, and it can also be used in grenades, to name a few uses."

Annabeth soaked in the information and she turned her face away from her father when her eyes widened. She put the pieces together and she figured it out.

"Thanks daddy," she said and snatched her notebook from her father's desk and shoved it deep inside her backpack and sprinted out of the classroom, running towards the park where she had met her friend.

She knew just the person to tell of her suspicions.

"Wait up!" Annabeth yelled, catching up with her friend. Said friend stopped walking and turned to look at the blond girl with her hair flying wildly behind her.

"Annabeth!" The girl yelled, her blue eyes sparkling with surprise.

"Thalia, I have to tell you something", the blond girl said as the two walked towards the nearest bench and sat down.

"Okay, then. Tell me." Thalia said, smiling. Her electric blue eyes darted around the park. The boys were supposed to be there soon. They had called her, telling her that they wouldn't be going straight to her house. They had some 'business' to take care of, and that they would meet at the park. She, of course, had agreed.

"There's this kid in my class", Annabeth began. "I'm sure you've heard of him. He's the kid who's always being bullied. His name is Percy Jackson."

Thalia frowned, and then covered it up with a smile. The younger girl didn't seem to notice.

"I saw him in Algebra writing down all these complicated chemical formulas that normal seventh graders don't know, not even the eight graders do! Anyways, I went to my dad and asked him about the formulas and he said that the formulas were for a smoke bomb and for zinc chloride."

Thalia's brows furrowed and her fists clenched. She burned holes at the grass as her brain already began to formulate plan number six.

"Thalia, he was trying to make -"

The blue-eyed girl interrupted Annabeth before she could finish her sentence. This girl was too intelligent and too nosy for her own good, someday, it would get her killed. Someday... Thalia grinned internally at the though. 'Someday' would be that day - January 7, 2007.

"I know, Annabeth." Thalia said coolly. "Perhaps it was from something he read."

"He also had a very messy drawing of a building, but the words were in some language that looked Italian."

Thalia gritted her teeth and she shoved her clenched fists in her jacket's pockets to hide them from Annabeth's view.

She mentally worked on the next plan.

**Plan No. 6 - **

_Victim: Annabeth Chase _

Annabeth was a smart girl. Percy had told her a lot about this certain girl, yet she had befriended the blond girl in a short period of time - one week to be exact, and the girl already trusted her. Of course, Thalia had a reason to have formed a friendship with Annabeth Chase. It was simply to get close to the girl and find out about her; find her strengths, weaknesses (Percy didn't know of their friendship). The girl trusted too quickly.

She was too innocent and her pride made Thalia's blood boil. She briefly wondered if 'Annabeth' meant something along the lines of 'stuck up bitch'.

Thalia looked around and tried to see if there was anything of use around to use as a weapon. Her eyes landed directly on the rose bushes behind the bench - they were surrounded by gray rocks. The kind of rocks that looked like rubble from destroyed bridges. The rocks were small, almost like pebbles, yet they looked sharp enough. She smiled.

_Weapon: Rocks near the shrubbery; throw them at the back of her head to make the victim look behind her, bare hands; distract the victim while the boys make sure that coast is clear, then hit the victim at the back of the head enough to knock her out, then take her to a secluded place. Give her a hook punch to the front side of the victim's jaw, which may snap the victim's neck. _

The location was obvious, though. The park was empty, since everyone had gone home and this particular park wasn't popular, but then, an idea popped in her head.

_Location: Park (make her lose consciousness), then take her home and end her life there. The house is empty since the maids have a free day, except for the butler, but he is usually in his room and only comes out if needed. _

Perfect.

_Evidence: Hide her body in the trash room. The trash is automatically burnt every Friday afternoon. Her body will burn to ashes and there is no body left behind. _

The new plan that she had formulated repeated over and over in her mind as Annabeth kept speaking her theories. Thalia wasn't paying attention; instead, she was looking around the park discreetly.

She heard light footsteps, but Annabeth took no notice; instead, she kept rambling.

The older girl turned her head slightly, not too much for the younger female to notice, but just enough for the two boys to see the warning look that she sent them to make them stop on their tracks. She tilted her head to the side and her eyes glanced at Annabeth.

Percy balled his fists but grinned when he saw the evil gleam in his oldest friend's eyes. She had a plan. He nudged Nico's side and whispered to him as he dragged him behind a rose bush.

His phone vibrated in his pocket and his smile widened when he read the subject: "Plan No. 6" from _Thalia. _

_Make her lose focus by hitting the back of her head. I'll give her a hook punch to the front side of her jaw which will make her head snap back and lose long-term consciousness. We'll take her to my house and end her there; she knows too much._

He showed the text message to Nico and he nodded. "You wanna do the honors, Perce?" Nico asked smiling. He knew of the hatred that the other had for the arrogant blond girl. Percy had told the two of them that she prided herself in her knowledge, and often picked on Percy for not being as smart as her.

How wrong she was. He was smarter than the average high school student, because he spent his free time making plans and doing research. It had been that way for years. He just never liked to show it to anyone besides Nico and Thalia.

Over time, the three became best friends. They talked and joked around like regular kids when they weren't planning murders (they often pushed that thought to the side during those times).

Percy nodded and picked up one of the rocks that surrounded the rose bush and with great accuracy, threw it with force at the back of the blond girl's head. She yelped and turned to look behind her; her gray eyes scanning her surroundings suspiciously. She turned back when she found nothing.

"It must have been -"

Thalia punched the side of her jaw before she could see it, and in an instant, she was knocked out of consciousness.

"Come on guys, let's hurry!" Thalia said and gestured for the two boys to hurry over to her. "Percy, you carry her in your arms; Nico, you and I will be standing in each of his sides and be the lookouts." Thalia instructed as the green-eyed boy grunted as he picked up the girl. "Thank god that this is New York, so we won't get any weird looks."

"Goddamn, what does this girl eat?" Percy complained and struggled to hold the girl in his arms. He grunted again and finally managed to put her over his shoulder. He inwardly thanked god that Thalia had insisted on going to the gym to work out and gain some muscle.

It seemed that Thalia had read his thoughts because she said smugly: "I told you that you would thank me later for sending you to the gym."

Percy rolled his eyes playfully as Nico smirked and poked at Percy's arms. "Oh my god. Look Thals!" He exclaimed in a high voice and flipped his short hair. "Percy has muscles! Oh em gee!" He finished with a squeal and began to skip in front of the older boy.

Thalia and Percy burst into loud laughter and Percy almost dropped Annabeth because he was too busy trying to hold his stomach to try and contain any more laughter - it didn't work.

"Oh my god, Nico," Thalia said, wiping away a tear of laughter that had escaped her right eye. "I think I have abs now, since I laughed so hard."

Nico grinned from ear to ear and skipped up to Thalia as they walked through the crowded streets of New York (not one person turned to look at them), and lifted Thalia's shirt up to see her stomach and poked at her belly.

"Hm..." Nico began in a way-too deep voice. "You are right Miss Thalia. You indeed will have abs soon. They will arrive within seven days, but if you pay nineteen ninety-nine now, they will be here in four days. Plussevenninety-nineofshippingandhandling." Nico said the last part quickly as he imitated the voice of a commercial man.

Thalia snorted and slapped Nico's hands away and took out her house keys from her jacket's pocket as the three of them rounded the corner and caught sight of the large house that stood out against the apartment buildings of Manhattan.

The wind blew harder and the stormy gray sky began to thunder. Raindrops began to fall from above.

Thalia pushed the keys in the door lock and twisted the silver key, unlocking the doors and stepped aside to allow her two friends to enter her home.

Percy walked straight towards her room upstairs and pushed the bedroom door open. He threw the limp body of the unconscious girl on the bed roughly and threw himself on the computer chair across from the bed.

Thalia and Nico strode in after him, with the eldest friend locking the door after her.

"How are we going to get rid of her?" Nico asked as he spared a glance at the blond and rolled his eyes.

Thalia sat down at the edge of the bed and checked Annabeth to make sure that she was still unconscious. She winced when she saw the dark bruise on her jaw and the blood that was beginning to trickle down her neck.

"Stab her." Percy said as he took out a pocketknife from one of Thalia's drawers from her computer desk.

"I like the way you think, Perce." Thalia said grinning and snatched the knife from Percy's hand. "I want to do it. You already killed Octavian, so I want to kill blondie here."

Nico pouted. "I get to kill the next person, alright? You guys already had your fun."

Percy laughed silently, his shoulders shaking. He couldn't believe that they were talking about murder so casually. "Fine then, Nico." He said, ruffling the younger boy's hair.

Both boys heard a muffled scream and they turned around to find Thalia on top of Annabeth stabbing the knife in the blond girl's side over and over again as the blood spilled all over the navy blue sheets. The blood spluttered all over Thalia's clothes and some droplets on her face, yet she didn't stop.

Annabeth whimpered, which was all she could do since she was being pressed down to the bed by Thalia's weight and her mouth was covered with the blue eyed girl's hand.

Then, the whimpering stopped and Thalia finally got off of the dead girl and turned around to give the two boys a cheeky grin as she cleaned the knife's blade with the edge of her grass green shirt.

Nico wrinkled his nose in disgust as he stared at the bloody blond girl on the bed and then Thalia's blood covered face. "Gross."

Thalia rolled her eyes and approached Nico with her hands in front of her, imitating a zombie. "Brains", she said and then stopped when he hid behind a laughing Percy. "Oh wait." She smirked and Nico glared darkly at her.

"I have a brain!"

"Suuuuuure." Thalia said, drawing out the 'u' in exaggeration and then walked back towards the bed.

"Come on guys. Help me take her body down to the trash room. It's Monday so the trash will be burned on Friday but we can turn it on now."

Both boys grumbled and walked towards the bed and each grabbed an arm. "We're going to have to take the stairs since there's cameras in the elevators", Nico grumbled.

"My elevator doesn't." Thalia pointed out and walked backwards towards the silver elevator and pressed the button. Almost immediately, the silver doors opened and the elevator dinged. Nico sighed in relief and both boys grabbed each of Annabeth's arms and dragged her inside the elevator. Thalia walked in after them and pushed the button that was labeled as _'Basement'. _

The elevator doors closed and began going down.

"We're going to have to throw away these clothes and my bed sheets."

The boys nodded and stared straight in front of them until the silver doors parted and the three walked out into the basement. The stood on the small balcony that was in front of the elevator doors and looked down while covering their noses, the foul smell of burnt rubbish made them want to puke.

"Just throw her in", Nico said in a funny voice.

Percy nodded and picked up her limp body with the help of Thalia, and together, the two threw her into the flames and Thalia twisted the 'ON' knob to make the burner start up to burn up the evidence, then they backed up back in the elevator before the air would fill with the terrible scent of flesh.

Nico pushed the button twice in a hurry to reach the second floor to the bedroom. The doors closed and the three sighed in relief.

"Thank god that's done and over with", Nico breathed out and took off his clothes, leaving himself in just plain black boxers. His two older friends nodded and copied him. Thalia left in a tank top that she always wore under her shirt and her panties, while Percy was left in green boxers. The three didn't mind undressing in front of each other, even if one of them was a girl. They had become rather close and loved each other like siblings. Together, the three of them were their own small family.

"Time to get rid of those sheets." Thalia announced as the doors opened and they stepped out.

"I just realized something," Percy began with a blank look. "We should've just taken the sheets with us and burned them along with the body and our clothes."

It was silent.

Then, the three of them groaned in realization. "We're going to have to go back down there?" Nico whined and crossed his arms, huffing.

"I killed the girl," Thalia said as she threw the bloody sheets and their clothes in one pile and then threw herself on the bed. "You guys go and get rid of the sheets and clothes."

Thalia left no room for arguments because she closed her eyes and slipped on her ear buds and then turned her iPod on and listened to music loudly.

Percy and Nico looked at each other and sighed in displeasure. "Let's go, Nico." Groaned Percy and picked up the pile of sheets and pressed the elevator button harshly as Nico picked up their clothes. Both boys slumped against the elevator's cool walls and just before the doors closed, Thalia sent them a wink and a smirk.

**October 27, 2007**

_Strength to Go On by Rise Against _

"It's been two months since our last plan and since we got rid of blondie. We need to get a move on and get rid of Matt Sloan next!" He heard hushed voices discuss behind the bookshelves in the Fiction section of the library.

He hadn't meant to overhear the three teenagers but he couldn't help it. He had sneaked in closer, pretending to pay them no mind and act as if he was reading a book (he hadn't even looked at the cover) and had opened it to a random page.

His eyes widened when he heard their discussion. He wanted to know what the three kids meant by 'get rid of', then he remembered his mother's words: "Curiosity killed the cat!"

Suddenly, the three kids stopped in the middle of their hushed conversation and put down the books that they had in their hands. He looked up from the book that he had been staring at and to the table where the kids had sat at.

They were gone.

He sighed and shut his book and set it down on the carpeted floor next to him (he had taken a seat a couple of bookshelves away from the three on the floor). He ran a hand through his short hair and finally looked at the book that he had been 'reading'.

"_'Night', _you don't look like the type of guy who would read a book like that", he heard a voice say behind him. He turned his head and looked up and the person who had talked to him.

All the color drained from his face as he locked eyes with the guy with the sea-green eyes and messy raven black hair. Now that he took a good look up close, he noticed that the boy looked about thirteen, one year older than himself. He wore dark blue jeans with a black and white belt, and gray T-shirt with a picture in black and white of a music box and someone holding on to it with red and bold letters that read: _SALIVA _and under it in smaller (although still bold) letters _BACK IN YOUR SYSTEM _and blue tennis shoes.

"You don't look like the type of guy to read _at all_."

He looked to his other side. It was another boy, about his own age, who was stepping on the blue and white book that he had put next to him. He was wearing a black T-shirt with a picture of a woman with long black hair and a white half mask, two crystal chandeliers in the background and to the right side (from down to up) it read in black letters: _THOUSAND FOOT CRUTCH _and then in red, cursive letters: _Welcome to the Masquerade, _black skinny jeans, and black and white converse that looked worn out.

He felt offended by the words of the boy with onyx eyes and he would have stood up and said a few choice of words that boys his age shouldn't have known and maybe thrown a few punches, but the two boys that were on each side of him radiated an aura of darkness that intimidated him and made the words leave him.

"You guys are right." This time, the one who said that wasn't either of the boys, but a girl who stepped directly in front of him. He looked up at the girl with blue eyes and a smirk on her lips. She wore black combat boots with a leader jacket and she also wore a black T-shirt, but with a picture of several zombie-like people with their fists high in the air, leading them was a hooded person whose face was not visible and only showed shadows but had red eyes and a grin showing its sharp teeth. At the very top of the album it read _DISTURBED _in gray letters and under it in minuscule letters read: _Ten Thousand Fists. _

He shuddered at the picture on the girl's shirt and backed further into the bookshelf, the edges of the books digging into his back.

The girl grinned at him. "You look like the type of boy who would be outside playing fantasy football and not reading books like _Night. _What's a boy like you reading a book by Elie Wiesel?"

He scoffed. "I like reading, thank you."

"Oh yeah? What kind of books have you read?" The boy with the _Thousand Foot Krutch _shirt question with amusement in his onyx eyes.

He stuttered and then fell quiet. The boy smirked.

The boy with the green eyes and the shirt with the red, bold letters spoke this time: "What's your name, blondie?"

He shouldn't have answered, but he did (not because he was intimidated by the girl's glare or anything). "Jason Grace."

Onyx-eyed boy laughed and slapped the girl's side. "Hey Thalia, you guys have the same last name!"

'Thalia' shrugged. "Who's your dad?"

"I don't have one. He died in a car accident when I was younger."

Thalia glared at him suspiciously. "Mother?"

"Sarah Grace."

Thalia nodded and turned back to the two boys. "He and I are not related. I told you guys what I did to my mom."

The two boys nodded and onyx-boy said: "The old hag is gone."

Thalia and the other boy nodded to each other, and then they pulled Jason up by his arms roughly. "Let's go, blondie." Thalia muttered.

He was about to release a loud scream and alert anyone that was near that he was being manhandled, kidnapped.

He felt a sharp pain on the back of his head and he saw black.

"He knows too much! He heard us!"

Nico chuckled darkly. "Aren't blondes supposed to be stupid? Percy killed Octavian because he knew of our plans to kill his friends and brother. Thalia already killed another blond who was too intelligent for her own good and found out about our back-up plan. Now we're going to kill _another _one? Just great. I call it this time, though. You guys already had your fun. _My _turn to kill _this _blond."

"Fine, then."

"Yessssss!"

"Did you just hiss?"

"... No."

"Hey." Percy said and slapped both of their arms. "When do you think that blondie will wake up?"

Thalia shrugged and sat down on her computer chair and put her arms behind her head, her hands laced together.

"We need to think of plan number seven."

Thalia nodded and opened her desk drawer, taking out a mini black notebook with _'Piani'_ written in white letters, which meant 'plans' in Italian (courtesy of Nico, the half-Italian, of course), in which they had re-written down all of their plans in fresh clean paper instead of an old crumpled piece of loose leaf paper that Percy always carried around in his jeans' pocket.

She also took out the blue ink pen that had somewhat become a part of Percy. He had said that his father had given it to him. The pen had blue waves around it and his last name imprinted on it and then wrote at the top of a new piece of paper: **Plan No. 7 - **

_Victim: Jason Grace (not related to Thalia Grace in any way). _

Thalia looked around her bedroom and searched for something that they could use as a weapon.

"What can we use as a weapon?" She thought out loud.

Nico shrugged carelessly as he flipped through a _Rolling Stone _magazine as he lay on the carpeted floor. "A knife?"

Percy shook his head as hit an orange balloon and watched it as it floated in the air and he repeated the cycle again. "We already did that. I thought you said that we should be creative with our plans?"

"True, true..." Nico trailed off and threw the magazine next to him.

"How about..." Percy thought for a few seconds before his green eyes lit up and he sat up, pushing the balloon away. "Hey, Thalia, where are your scissors? The silver ones?"

Thalia nodded. "But... wouldn't that be the same as a knife?"

Nico and Percy's eyes met and they grinned at each other. "What Percy is trying to say it that... wouldn't it be more fun to let blondie over there", Nico nodded towards the unconscious boy on the bed. "... Die a painful death? Just because he was so nosy."

Thalia smirked, catching on and ran to her beside table and rummaged through it and then took out brand-new sharp, silver scissors and held them out for the boys to see.

Nico snatched them from her hand and ran a finger down the blades together. "Sharp. Deathly..." He said as he approached the bed like a predator and smiled at the blond boy. "Ready to kill."

He opened the scissors and admired how they gleamed in the light. Then, he ran the tip softly up the boy's shoulder and let it sink deep within the shoulder. The blond flinched but before he could wake up, Thalia hit his head and the boy lost consciousness all over again. Nico dragged the sharp tip that was buried deep inside the boy's shoulder down to his elbow and took it out, then buried it again under the elbow and down to his wrist.

He took a good long look at the blond's palms and shrugged, then stabbed the scissor's blade through the middle of his right palm quickly and then took it out and watched as the blond's right arm bled and the boy whimpered in pain while in a state of unconsciousness.

Nico lifted up the boy's shirt and stabbed in the scissors' blade from his bellybutton and all the way up to his collarbone and then from his right nipple to the left, forming a bloody cross.

Percy whistled impressed. "Damn, dude."

Thalia just nodded in agreement and then frowned. "There goes another set of bed sheets."

Nico gave her a smile. "I think that instead of burning his body like Annabeth's, we should... hm, just feed it to the dogs?"

Percy spoke up. "I saw a movie once! It was about this one couple who owned a barbershop and then, they cut off people's heads and threw their bodies in the basement, then used their flesh to cook meat pies. They were the best pies in town, by the way." He said the last part in a matter-of-factly voice.

Thalia looked repulsed at the though. "We are _not _going to cook Jason's body and make it into pies!"

"Yeah! What if he hasn't showered?" Nico piped in from the bed as he continued to make markings on Jason's body. He had written words in Italian while Jason groaned and tears prickled at his eyes.

Thalia turned to him. "Really? That's all you care about, Nico?"

Nico didn't respond, so she turned to Percy, who had a care-free expression on his face and then saw the look that his friend was giving him, so he raised his hands up in the air in surrender. "I'm just saying."

"Hey, Nic. You almost done with him?"

Nico's nose wrinkled as he stabbed the scissors through Jason's chest and pushed them in deeper with the palm of his hand and put all his weight into it. Blood ran down the blond's body and soaked the bed sheets. Finally, Nico got off the bed and wiped his hands on the front of his black skinny jeans.

"Yeah, Perce. I'm done."

"Took ya long enough", Thalia groaned and stood up, twisting her body to the side in an attempt to crack her back.

Percy took her place and picked up his blue pen and began writing where Thalia had left off.

_Weapon: Thalia's silver scissors. _

_Location: Ambush him in the library, when the old librarian is nowhere in sight. Bring him to Thalia's house and kill him on her bed with the scissors (let Nico have his fun). _

_Evidence: Since he is to be killed on top of the bed, the sheets will be soaked in blood, so burn the sheets and any clothes covered in blood. Get rid of the body by burning it, also. _

Percy put the pen down and capped it and then placed the mini notebook and pen in the drawer and locked it.

"Now what?" He asked as he closed his eyes.

"Now we take this down to the basement and burn it."

"This is Annabeth all over again", Percy mumbled as he stood up and pushed the elevator button.

His two other friends nodded in agreement.

**February 6, 2008 **

_The Night by Disturbed _

"I should dye my hair." Thalia said casually as she fingered a strand of her black and long hair. It had been choppy back in 2006, but after the three became friends, she became happier and she eventually let her hair grow after some convincing.

The reason as to why her hair had been choppy was because when she was a little girl, her mother always used to brush her hair while Thalia sat on her lap. Her mother used to tell her how beautiful and shiny her long hair was and when her mother began drinking after her dad started sleeping around with different women and drowning himself in his paperwork, Thalia had gotten tired of it. She cut her hair with some safety scissors. By cutting off her long hair - the long and dark hair that her mother loved so much - she also cut off all the ties that she had with her mother. One night when her mother was passed out on the couch and her father was in his office (probably messing around with his skanky secretary) and the maids and the butler were sleeping, Thalia took a knife from the kitchen and stabbed her mother with it three times on her chest and twice on her side and then proceeded to chop off her mother's brown hair and cut her face. Then, she burned her mother's body along with the hair and the carpet.

Thalia's father only used the disappearance of his wife as an excuse to stay longer at his office and sleep around more.

Ever since then, Thalia had a habit of burning people's corpses.

"No!" Yelled Percy and sat up quickly from the floor and then snatched the hair dye from Thalia's hand and threw it out the window.

"What the hell..."

"Don't dye your hair! It's the only physical thing that we have in common! The three of us have black hair... it makes me feel as if the three of us are really related... as if we're siblings."

Thalia smiled widely and embraced Percy tightly. Nico made a gagging noise. "Yuck! You're both getting soft, Mister Jackson and Miss Grace."

The two mock-glared at the younger boy who smiled widely at them and gave them two thumbs up.

"Don't call me that!" Thalia yelled and threw a pillow at Nico's face, which dodged it and laughed loudly. "You missed! You missed! You misseeeeeeed! You misse- oof!"

"Oh, I missed, didn't I?"

"GRACE! GRACE! GRACE!"

"SHUT UP YOU LITTLE MIDGET!"

"I AM NOT A MIDGET!"

"KIDS, CALM DOWN!" Percy yelled over their own screams and then jumped on the bed with them and pinned them down in a pile and he sat on top of the two, who were protesting and wiggling around, trying to get free.

"Get off, fatty!" Thalia grumbled and pushed at Percy's back.

"Yeah. What have you been eating? A bag full of horse di-"

Thalia smacked his head. "Di Angelo, language!"

"You're not my mom!"

"Nico!" Yelled Percy and picked his butt up from them, which made them _almost _sigh in relief, but then he threw himself back down on them, putting all of his weight on them and they yelped. "Nico, listen to your elders!"

"She's just older by three years!"

"Three years make a lot of difference!"

"Shut up, Thalia!"

"Don't tell me to shut up, you midget!"

"If I'm a midget, then you're an ACORN!"

The three of them stopped moving around and Percy got off of them. He and Thalia turned to stare at Nico weirdly.

"An acorn?" Thalia asked slowly.

Nico stood up and brushed down his clothes with his hands, not looking up at them. "Yeah, haven't you read _A Midsummer's Night Dream _by William Shakespeare? Hermia, who is in love with Lysander, gets called an acorn because she's short. Lysander calls her that when he's under a spell and 'in love' with Helena. Helena is the tall, blond one, by the way."

"..."

"..."

Nico took the silence as the cue to start reciting the dialogue from the play. "Get you gone, dwarf, you minimus of hindering knotgrass made, you bead, you _acorn_!" Nico said the last word with emphasis while throwing his fist in the air and shaking it with passion.

"Nerd." Percy coughed and turned his head away.

"He just called me an acorn." Thalia said blankly.

"He also called you a dwarf," Percy pointed out.

"I also called you a minimus of hindering knotgrass made", Nico supplied helpfully.

"Oh, don't forget a bead." Percy added in with a teasing grin.

Thalia frowned and stood in front of her mirror. "I'm not that short, am I?"

"Well," Nico said and stood next to Thalia, smiling at their reflections and put an arm around her shoulders. "Percy is one inch taller than you and he's fourteen in eight months, and you're nearing sixteen in ten. Oh and I'm only three inches shorter than you and I'm only twelve."

There was a loud knock on the door and then the golden doorknob twisted and the white, double doors were pushed open. A girl with black hair that fell into large curls around her face and porcelain skin walked in with a silver tray in her hands.

"Here is the coffee that you ordered, Miss Grace." The girl said in a monotone and a bored expression on her face.

Thalia walked away from the mirror and took the tray from the girl's hands. "Thank you, Selene."

Selene nodded and walked out of the bedroom and shut the door behind her quietly. Thalia set the tray on top of the glass table in the middle of her bedroom and the three of them got on their knees around it, each taking a cup of coffee for themselves.

Thalia took a sip from her coffee and looked at the two boys that she considered her younger brothers. "What are we going to do today?"

"Who's next on the list?" Asked Nico as he stared at the brown substance in the cup in front of him and wrinkled his nose in disgust.

Percy stayed silent as he went over the people on his list. "Plan number eight. Hm, what about... uhm, Drew Tanaka?" He asked as he watched as Nico took a packet of sugar from the tray and ripped it open, and poured it in his coffee. He mixed it with his finger and flinched at the hot sensation and then took it out and licked his finger. Then, he took a sip from his coffee and smiled in satisfaction.

"The girl who tripped you in the cafeteria and made you fall on top of Nancy's food? The Asian one?"

"That's the one," the green-eyed boy said with a scowl.

Nico stood up and went over to the desk and unlocked it, then took out the mini notebook along with the blue pen and uncapped it. He wrote on the back of the page where plan number seven had been written: **Plan No. 8 - **

_Victim: Drew Tanaka_

Drew Tanaka. That girl wasn't nice at all. She was probably one of the meanest thirteen year old girls one would _ever _have the displeasure of meeting in their life times. Her name meant "sarcastic, funny, and charming", which was ironic, since she wasn't any of that... except maybe sarcastic. Her name also meant "too smart for his/her age" and well, Percy had to snort at that. The girl wore more make-up than she had brains. Finally, her name also meant "a sweet person." _Hahaha, funny, next joke please_, Percy thought.

"I'm thinking bare hands?" Thalia said.

"You _always _think that," Nico responded as he wrote it down. "What are we going to do though?"

"Hm..." Percy began while lacing his hands together in front of him, his coffee halfway gone. His eyes lit up, just like they always did when he got an idea. The three of them began discussing ideas and kept writing them down and scribbling some out, until finally, they were satisfied.

_Weapon: Bare hands; a swift, hard, cold-cock punch to an enemy's face while the enemy is standing near a wall may drive her head into it, causing the back of the skull to shatter fatally. _

Drew liked to go shopping every Saturday morning from eight in the morning until four in the afternoon. She took the city bus from the bus stop near her house all the way to the mall, which was ten miles away. The bus stop was in a secluded area surrounded by trees which created shadows around the bus stop. Usually, Drew only waited fifteen minutes for the bus, and was entertained with her iPod while she waited. That was perfect. The neighborhood next to the bus stop was dangerous and so not many people besides the occasional elder waited at _that _bus stop because the neighborhood was filled with drug dealers and rapists. That was also very convenient.

Since there wasn't a wall near the bus stop, a tree would have to do, since they were just as hard as a cement wall.

_Location: The bus stop a couple of blocks away from the victim's house. The bus stop is a very secluded area (since it's surrounded by trees) and it is next to a dangerous neighborhood. _

_Evidence: Since the neighborhood is known for being dangerous (hello! drug dealers and rapists live there!) it would be easy to cover up the crime. Leave her body lying under a tree, the nearest one to the entrance of the neighborhood. _

"Alright, next?" Thalia said as she put down the pen when she finished writing the conclusion and passed it to Nico, who slid the notebook in front of him and wrote:** Plan No. 9 -**

"I don't knooooow." Percy said lazily as he sprawled himself on the carpet and stared at the ceiling, which was covered with posters of different bands.

"Let's just leave it at that, alright?" Nico said, capping the pen and setting it down and closing the black mini notebook.

Thalia nodded and gulped down the rest of her coffee. "Yeah, it's getting pretty late anyways. Let's just go to bed. We'll finish this another day."

Percy held his arms out and his two friends groaned and rolled their eyes, but pulled at each of his arms with as much of their strength as they could and managed to get Percy to his feet. "Thanks guys."

"Yeah, yeah." Grumbled Thalia as she undressed herself and threw herself on the bed.

Percy walked out of the bedroom and headed towards his own room down the hall. Nico, however, stayed back.

"Hey, Thalia?" Asked Nico in a small voice, his hands fixed on his shoes.

"Yeah?"

"H-How... How do you sleep on that bed?"

"What?" Thalia furrowed her eyebrows in confusion as she sat up and looked at her youngest friend.

"Thalia," Nico said quietly and sat down next to the girl on her bed, still staring at his shoes. "We've _murdered _people of this very bed. Two people have lost their lives _on _this bed, _in _this room. How do you sleep through the night on _this _bed, knowing that someone's innocent blood has been spilled here?"

"Nico...-"

"No!" Nico screamed loudly and stood up quickly. It was then that she noticed that he had tears in his eyes. "They were innocent! Everyone that we've killed was innocent!" He sobbed out and stared at the bed with repugnance, his body shaking. He then looked down at his own pale, shaking hands and more tears leaked from his eyes. "I've killed someone my own age."

They both heard loud footsteps and seconds later, Percy burst in the room, his expression was alarmed. "Hey, what's with the yellin- Nico, are you _crying_?"

He was honestly shocked. It was the first time that he or Thalia had seen Nico cry ever since they met, two years before.

Nico turned his back on both of them and he chuckled bitterly. "You guys both know that Octavian, Annabeth, and Jason were innocent! Yet, we killed them because they knew too much."

Percy blinked and approached the younger boy slowly. "Nico... if we didn't... they would have told the cops. You have to understand that -"

Nico shook his head. "No..." his voice quivered and he fell to the floor. He put his knees in front of him and his head in between them, and for the first time in years, he started sobbing. Full out, broken-hearted sobbing.

"Nico, please," Percy begged as he sat down next to him; Thalia was watching them with a shocked expression on her face; she hadn't moved from her spot on the bed. "I know that it's wrong to kill. You're right; we've killed the wrong people for the wrong reasons. But what were we supposed to do? Let them run away and rat us out?"

Nico looked up, his eyes were red and his nose was dripping with snot, which he wiped away his jacket sleeve. "I... no."

"Exactly." Percy said soothingly and rubbed a hand on Nico's shoulder. "We couldn't have that, so... we did what was..._ convenient_. That doesn't make us bad people. We just want revenge because people screwed us over first."

"Think of it as karma." Thalia said from her bed.

"Yeah... karma." Nico repeated while nodding. He wiped away his tears and stood up, and held out a hand for Percy to take. The older boy took the hand and stood up from the floor and stared down at his younger best friend... the one that he considered a younger brother.

It was his fault that he was crying. If he had just denied his help two years previously, Nico wouldn't be crying and feeling guilty. He wouldn't be a murderer.

_'This is your fault!' _Percy's conscience screamed at him accusingly.

"You okay, Nic?"

_'My fault...' _the other side of his mind repeated in a daze as he stared at Nico worriedly.

"Yeah. M'fine."

"Ya sure?"

"Yes, mother."

Thalia smirked. "I told you that you looked like a girl, Perce."

Nico laughed loudly and shook his head. "I'm going to bed. Night guys."

"Night, Nico."

The younger boy walked out and shut the door behind him.

"Think he's okay?" Thalia asked worriedly.

_'My fault, my fault, myfaultmyfaultmyfaultmyfau-'_

"Yeah, he'll be fine. Just give him time."

Thalia nodded and lay back down on her bed. "Sleep tight, Thals."

"You too, Perce."

He walked out of the bedroom and walked towards his bedroom as he remembered Nico's crying face and the blood that he had seen being spilled. "Just think of it as karma," he told himself.

_'My fault.' _

"Just karma."

**March 3, 2008 **

_Cat and Mouse by The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus _

"Percy! I haven't seen you in forever!" The young waitress exclaimed and embraced the thirteen year old boy tightly.

"I've missed you too, Tia." Percy said, returning the warm embrace.

"Come on," Tia said as she ushered Percy to the booth in the back corner. "Cheeseburger with bacon and a coke, right?"

Percy smiled and nodded. Tia ran into the kitchen and it was not even ten minutes later that she returned and settled the food tray in front of Percy.

"Where have you been these past two years, Percy?" She asked softly as he took a sip of his drink. She noticed how much he had changed. He was nearing age fourteen and he was a couple of inches taller, reaching up to her chin. His hair wasn't as messy as she remembered. It appeared as if it was newly cut, although, he still had the bangs that covered his forehead and contrasted with his green eyes.

His eyes.

She remembered them to have been a brilliant sea-green that had been filled with life and so much happiness, even when he had been bullied, he was always optimistic. Now, they were a dark green and they no longer held the gleam that had made her smile so much before. They looked dull without that happy gleam, and his eyes held a certain emotion that she couldn't place, but she knew that she had seen that familiar look in other people's eyes before, and it had not been pleasant.

His skin was no longer naturally tan that made him look like a surfer guy; instead, his skin was milky white. He had scars on his arms and his hands appeared rough, as if he had rubbed them against rocks.

Yet, his clothes weren't dirty and torn up like she remembered. His clothes were new and well taken care of. He was wearing a black shirt with a picture of a Green Day album on the front and blue faded jeans; with black and white converse... those hadn't changed. He was always fond of converse; he said it was the last thing that reminded him of his brother. His brother had bought them for him for his birthday, but they had been several sizes too big, and they started to fit when he reached eleven.

His brother had died along with his mother and father. Percy didn't like to mention him.

Percy looked up from his cheeseburger and pursed his lips. "I've been around. I met a couple of people, and we became friends. I've been with them a lot."

Hestia nodded and a soft smile appeared on her lips. "I'm glad. Do you still go to the same school?"

"Yes," he responded stiffly and took a bite from his burger.

"I heard that a kid died in the bathroom at the school."

Percy's eyes darkened even more and his grip on his burger tightened, causing the condiments to fall out and the burger to split into two pieces. "Yes," he snapped. "Octavian Castellan. He used to bully me too. I think that he deserved death."

"Percy!"

Said boy shrugged carelessly. "It's the truth. He had it coming to him, it was karma."

Hestia's eyes widened as she finally placed the emotion that was in his eyes. She had seen that same dark emotion in the eyes of evil people. The ones who killed and thoroughly enjoyed it. Before she had her own cafe, she used to work in the county jail as a secretary. She had seen hundreds of people be taken in. Murderers, rapists, thieves.

They all had one thing in common: That evil look in their eyes when they stared at her.

"D-Did you have anything to do with it?"

Percy's head snapped up and he glared at her. "Why would you say that?"

"I... I don't know," she said with hesitation as she twirled a strand of her orange hand in her finger and refused to meet his eyes.

He sat up straight and put the burger down on the tray and picked up a napkin and began wiping his hands from the grease. "No," he said coldly. "It wounds me that you would think that I would kill someone, become a murderer. Do I _look _like a murderer?"

Hestia blinked and shook her head in guilt. "No," she said, looking away from his face. She could see the tears that he was struggling to hold back. "I'm sorry. It's just that the way you said that he deserved death... I just thought tha-"

"If you think so lowly of me, then I should leave now," he said standing up. He took out his wallet from his back pocket and took out a twenty dollar bill and threw it on the table. "Keep the change," he told her and turned around to walk away.

Hestia remained seated as she stared at his back. She had just gotten him back and she already chased him away! How could she have been so stupid? He wasn't a murderer. He was just a kid; barely in his teens... he was too innocent to kill _anyone. _

That gleam in his eye... that emotion. She shook her head to clear her thoughts. He lived on the streets for too long and probably met a lot of bad influences. He hated the world for taking away his family; of course he would feel hatred. That's the emotion that she had seen in his eyes. He hated the world, but he wasn't capable of killing. No, he wasn't.

She felt a chill run down her spine as she remembered his eyes once again.

Percy Jackson was _not _a murderer.

Percy crouched under a trashcan and took out the mini black notebook that he had been carrying that day in his pocket and uncapped his pen. His breathing was heavy; he wrinkled his nose in disgust as he caught the foul smell of rubbish and she stood up and walked quickly towards the park and sat down on the nearest bench.

Memories washed over him.

This was the same bench that Annabeth had sat at, minutes before she had been murdered. He remembered her pained whimpers and how _red _her blood looked. It was such a beautiful shade of red. The memory faded away and it was replaced by Nico's crying face and his sobs filled his head.

_"They were innocent!" _

_"Just karma..." _

_"My fault." _

He closed his eyes tightly and shook his head quickly. "Bad thoughts," he scolded himself and looked down at the new piece of paper, where Nico had written **Plan No. 9 - **only one month before.

_Victim: Hestia Sanders _

Hestia... he smiled as he remembered when they first had met, back at the beginning of sixth grade. He ran been chased by bullies and he had ran inside the cafe for shelter. He was beaten, bruised, and hungry. She had taken pity on him and cleaned him up, tended his wounds and he had found a friend in her.

He remembered that he used to have a silly crush on her. She was seven years older than he was, meaning that she had just recently turned twenty-one years old.

He liked her smile. It was nice and so comforting. It calmed him and her hugs reminded him of his mother's tight and warm hugs that he missed so much.

She, being the owner of the cafe, always offered him free food. She had offered to take him in, adopt him, but he had refused. He couldn't put the responsibility of being a mother on her. She was young; she could be out with her friends when she wasn't working instead of attending his needs.

Now, two years later... he was sitting at the park planning her murder, just so that she would take her suspicions to the grave. He didn't _want _to, but he _had _to.

He thought of what he could use as a weapon. Of course, he had thought of using a gun to kill someone, but he immediately pushed the idea away. A gun would make noise and it was too much too suspicious if a kid his age went to the gun shop in Manhattan and tried to purchase a gun.

He gulped and his hands began to get shaky. He couldn't do it.

**... End of Part 1 of 2 ... **


End file.
